Saturday, September 18, 2010

Allergy boy.

I thought we were in the clear after a trial run of not giving him Singulair for a week proved he was finally wheeze and dry cough free.

Seriously.

I thought we were home-free in the allergy department.

I was very very very wrong.

Skip to last May....

Taylor, Henry and I spent a week at a wonderful all-inclusive resort in Mexico. I was 28 weeks pregnant and it was our last hoorahrah as a family of 3. Everything was perfect except for the fact that Henry had a SEVERE allergic reaction to something he ate at a buffet.

*dry cough, wheezing, swollen face/lips/ears, blood in his diaper the next day, and horrible ezcema for the rest of the week*

It was bad.

As soon as I noticed his face swelling, I knew he needed lots and lots of Benadryl. Luckily, the gift store had adult strength Benadryl behind the counter and we began dosing him every 4 hours for the rest of the night. He looked better the next morning but was still swollen for the next 24 hours. We gave him nothing but bread and fruit for the rest of the trip and continued about our merry way. It was probably a good thing I didn't have access to the internet or I would have FREAKED out!!!

As soon as we got home, I made an appointment with a pediatric allergist in Jackson. They did a RAST blood test for 12 possible allergies, including shellfish which I suspect caused the reaction in Mexico, and the test came back negative for all allergens. I was prepared for this possibility from my research that allergy tests in toddlers are notoriously misleading. Now, we never leave the house without our EpiPen Jr., a big bottle of Benadryl AND we avoid seafood restaurants at all costs.

This is where a picture of Henry's very ugly and swollen face should be inserted.

Where, oh where, did my pictures from our vacation disappear to?

In a recent post, I mentioned that Henry is finally free of ezcema.....as long as he remains dairy free. It makes me sad sad sad that it took 2 years to make the dairy connection but I am glad we have a fairly easy fix for that issue.

And, last but not least, he is also highly allergic to a wide variety of bug bites. You can literally see the bite site swell up before your very eyes. The poor kid can't seem to stay away from ants lately so ant bites are looking u.g.l.y. these days. I'm pretty sure the other moms at the park think I'm crazy for pulling out the Benadryl after Henry gets one little bug bite but it is an absolute necessity.

This is ONE ant bite.

One bite isn't too big a deal but I am terrified the kid will fall into an ant bed.

1 comment:

I'm so glad I read this post! Nora has terrible eczema and is miserable with it. This may sound stupid, but I thought it was just hereditary since Jason's dad and his sister's kids have it. Now, I realize that it may be an allergy that they share. I'm going to do some research!On the bright side, there is hope for those bug bites. Anne Parks had terrible reactions to them until recently. Maybe he'll outgrow them, too!